100 STARLIGHT AND SUNSHINE. 
leave their black, spiny, cast-off skins —of all their five periodic 
moults—attached to the denuded branches upon which the larvee 
have fed. 
In another amusing specimen I found a large piece of hor- 
net’s nest, four inches broad, arranged as a pendant, and dangling 
from this a string of brilliants that glittered like emeralds, and 
which proved to be three dead blue-bottle flies entangled in spider 
silk. Whether or not . the bird had appreciated the 
especial attractions of some particular remnant of 
cobweb thus en- %@~ riched, or had deliberately ad- 
justed the flies by“, way of ornament, I could not 
determine. But it is undeniable that a similar 
decorative sense is frequently displayed in their 
nests, certain rare treasures being held in re a 
reserve for finishing touches of adornment, 
even as I once. actually witnessed the careful adjustment of a 
bright green iridescent feather of a peacock beneath a pendent 
nest in a rose-bush just outside the closed blinds of my room. 
What twitterings of congratulation, mutual suggestion, and experi- 
mental touches ere the dainty prize found its final setting! 
In the same bush I discovered, later, a small narrow wisp of 
lace, abandoned to the antagonism of the thorns, though not 
